Gidley Takes Pole for Barber Race 1 After Late Flyer

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Memo Gidley stormed to pole position for this morning’s GT America powered by AWS race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Gidley, in the No. 56 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, reeled off a 1:22.838 lap time in the 15-minute qualifying session at the Alabama circuit.

While it was more than one-second slower than Blake McDonald’s benchmark 1:21.824 lap, McDonald will not take part in either of the 40-minute races, having used the official sessions for practice ahead of his GT World Challenge America powered by AWS campaign.

SRO3 class points leader Justin Rothberg will line up alongside Gidley on the front row, with the Bronze*-derogated driver, driving the No. 29 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO, having had his five-position grid penalty rescinded for this weekend.

GTA newcomer Joel Cortes will start third in the No. 19 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Ross Chouest and Tony Davis completing the top-five in their Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Ferrari 296 GT3 machinery, respectively.

Jason Bell, in the No. 2 Racers Edge Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, will start sixth, ahead of Kyle Washington and Farhan Siddiqi, who will bring up the rear of the eight-car starting field.

The first GT America race of the weekend takes the green flag at 11:55 a.m. CST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube and Twitch channels.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John